How Big How Blue How Beautiful – third Florence and the Machine album!

WHAT KIND OF RETURN!

12th February 2-15 was definitely the highlight of this year so far! So many things happened… The newest Florence and the Machine single had its world premiere, after a while we could see the latest videoclip. And most importantly – the album title, release date, tracklist and artwork have been revealed! Too much to handle!

In a nutshell:

• Title: How Big How Blue How Beautiful
• Release date : 1/06/2015 (2/06/15 US)
• Producer: Markus Dravs

Tracklist:

Standard:

1. SHIP TO WRECK
2. WHAT KIND OF MAN
3. HOW BIG, HOW BLUE
4. QUEEN OF PEACE
5. VARIOUS STORMS & SAINTS
6. DELILAH
7. LONG & LOST
8. CAUGHT
9. THIRD EYE
10. ST JUDE
11. MOTHER

Deluxe:

1. HIDING
2. MAKE UP YOUR MIND
3. WHICH WITCH
4. THIRD EYE (DEMO)
5. HOW BIG, HOW BLUE (DEMO)

MESSAGE FROM FLORENCE

Florence posted this message on her facebook page:

What’s more, Flo posted this pictures and caption on her instagram:

I’m so happy to announce my new record ‘HOW BIG HOW BLUE HOW BEAUTIFUL.’ Written over two years between London and LA. Recorded with my good friend Marcus Dravs about a 15 min bike ride from my house. It has been a true labour of love. ThankYou all for your patience, and thanks to everyone who inspired, consoled, contributed, and supported throughout. Im so glad you get to hear it. But sad to let it go. Please take care of it, as it took care of me. F xxxx

How Big How Blue How Beautiful – album trailer

WHERE TO BUY?

On official Florence + the Machine website (www.florenceandthemachine.net) you can get a copy of ‘How Big How Blue How Beautiful’ on CD (standard and deluxe version) and on 12″ and 7″ vinyl. There are also some exclusive boxset editions available.

You can also pre-order the album on iTunes – you’ll get ‘What Kind Of Man’ instantly!

FLORENCE ABOUT THE ALBUM

I guess although I’ve always dealt in fantasy and metaphor when I came to writing, that meant the songs this time were dealing much more in reality. Ceremonials was so fixated on death and water, and the idea of escape or transcendence through death, but the new album became about trying to learn how live, and how to love in the world rather than trying to escape from it. Which is frightening because I’m not hiding behind anything but it felt like something I had to do.

What does the title ‘How Big How Blue How Beautiful’ signify to Florence?

That was one of my very first songs that I wrote for this. I was in LA and I think the sky here is so different than anything that we have in London. They just enormous and they go on forever. In some ways it can be incredibly hopeful and in some ways it can make you feel incredibly exposed. So there’s like a happiness and a sadness to it.

And then the rest of the album kind of came along and there were songs on it that looked kind of more troubled. It was a year of serious his and lows. And the album sort of reflects that. I didn’t know whether to call it something that would signify a hi and a low and I was gonna call it something else that was quite like… Cause you know sometimes there’s a lot in here about things just being out of reach and like really wanting, striving for something and that kind of feeling of looking… There’s some moments on it that are quite desperate, but actually I thought about calling it something that was darker I guess. There’s a greek myth that Tantalus was put into a pot of water, he was punished by a god, so that every time he would bend down, the water would recede. And there’s some grapes above him. Every time he looked up, the grapes will be pulled away. So this idea that something was always just beyond your reach.

I was always thinking about that. And then I listened to the whole record and I said: Actually it’s not.. You thought like you got it. That the thing that you wanted you got, you just didn’t realise it. And then it takes you all the way back to the beginning and I was like… I think How Big How Blue How Beautiful should be the title and then it opened the whole record out for me, because there’s just so much hope in that phrase. And that is kind of how I feel about the world. (Interview with Kat Corbett, KROQ 2015)

‘WHAT KIND OF MAN’

The first single promoting new Florence and the Machine album is titled ‘What Kind Of Man’. Its premiere was on BBC Radio 1 in Zane Lowe’s ‘Hottest Record’. After the audio premiere, the videoclip directed by Vincent Haycock and Tabitha Denholm was released.

What Kind Of Man – videoclip

‘What Kind Of Man’ is also available on Spotify